In the broadest sense, the instant invention relates to a method of manufacture and an article made from that method. In a narrower sense, the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a pad of gloves and a method of its manufacture. In the narrowest sense, the invention relates to a pad of contiguously stacked disposable plastic gloves and its method of manufacture.
Disposable plastic gloves and the like have long been known in the prior art. In general, such as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 1,731,340 which teaches a toilet tissue paper mitt. U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,540 teaches a plastic, disposable physician's examination hand mitt having a grasping tab. An oversized, protective covering for the hands is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,773,264. U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,784 granted on Aug. 8, 1972 to Lindley is one example of just such art. Still another example of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,384,083 granted on May 21, 1968 to Cozza, et al. In this last mentioned patent a disposable plastic glove is formed with a medicant formed integrally with one of the inner surfaces thereof and the glove is positioned on a paper backing sheet. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,589 to McLaughlin teaches a dispensing apparatus for disposable, thin plastic articles. The articles, such as disposable plastic gloves, may be retrieved by the user one at a time in a relatively simple manner. The apparatus includes a box-like, generally rectangular enclosure for housing a removably mounted packet containing a plurality of the disposable articles stacked in the packet in closely spaced, parallel relationship in a flat condition. The enclosure is provided with a front window or opening and a removable top cover or cap. The packet of articles is loaded into the enclosure through the top opening and are disposed to be removed, one at a time, through the front opening of the enclosure. The packet comprises a pair of faces yieldably connected to one another which have a planar configuration at least as great as the area of the articles disposed between them. The enclosure also includes a spring to support the faces of the packet carrying the articles in a parallel relationship to the walls of the enclosure with the faces and the articles being biasly urged toward the front window to conveniently present the outermost article to the user. U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,853 to Smith teaches disposable plastic film gloves that are prepared from strip film material in two layers which are heat sealed in the outline of the five fingers of a glove and simultaneously die cut to remove the material between the fingers and to the side and base of the respective gloves. The gloves are formed in a strip with the three center fingers of each glove fitting the curved base or wrist opening of then adjacent glove. The heat seal at the fingers adjacent to the wrist opening of the next glove is arranged with a perforation or serration outside the heat sealed portion in the wrist portion of the succeeding glove. This structure permits a strip of gloves to be rolled or provided in reversed overlapping layers for continuous dispensing and permits each glove to be pulled off from the succeeding one with all of the intermediate portions cut out and the wrist opening completely open and ready for use. U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,150 to Hummel teaches a disposable sterile packaged plastic glove and a container therefor, that are formed in a single operation. A plastic glove formed of two opposed plastic film sheets is sealed to the same supporting member. The package, when opened, serves as a disposable receptacle for the used glove. The package also provides a convenient means for the user to insert his hand into the glove. U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,588 to Long teaches a disposable hand care product that includes a first and second glove side elements fabricated of a relatively thin plastic film material. Each of these elements have oppositely extending finger receiving areas and juxtapositioned palm receiving areas. These side elements are disposed in face-to-face aligned relationship. They are sealingly interconnected to one another around the entire periphery thereof so as to define a pair of glove members arranged in wrist-to-wrist connected relationship. A hand care product is disposed interjacent these side elements. Separating means permits convenient separation of the pair of glove members from one another while simultaneously providing access into the interior of the member. In this manner, a person can insert his or her hands into these members so as to have skin contact with the hand care product disposed inside it. U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,697 to Hayes teaches a disposable plastic clean up glove that is economical to manufacture and easy to use. It is made from two sheets of thermo setting plastic sheets joined together by heat sealing into shape and perforated for easy detachment. A fastener cut extends along the outside of the cuff portion and a tie strip extends along the fastener. Once an object is picked up using the glove, the glove is turned inside out to form a container and the fastener closed. The tie strip may be closed for double security and an aroma bubble located on the outside of the glove, now inside of the container, is burst to disinfect and deodorize the held contents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,620 to Kelliher teaches a dispenser for gloves. The dispenser includes a tubular body having a first end and a second end and having a spring disposed within it. The spring is secured to a moveable disc shaped member. A flexible mammillated shaped element having a first end and a second end is secured to the disc shaped member at the first end and secures a plurality of gloves within it. The second end of the mammillated member is secured to the second end of said tubular body. A top element which slideably fits over the second end of the tubular body has an opening within and a diaphragm element having an aperture within, secured over said opening. The spring urges the disc shaped member against the flexible mammillated shaped member containing the gloves allowing removal of one glove at a time from the aperture in the diaphragm element. Another type of glove dispenser is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,532 issued to Stephenson. In this invention, a package of flattened sterile surgical gloves was provided in a roll form. The roll of gloves consisted of a continuous spirally wound sheet having uniformly spaced parallel transverse tear lines. The gloves were attached by adhesive to the sheet. Although useful in some limited applications such dispensing system suffered significant limitations due to the inability of the user to mount the gloves on such sheet, that is, such sheet had to be purchased preformed, with the gloves adhered thereto by adhesive. Furthermore, such roll dispensers resulted in a greater overall cost to the user in that for each glove dispensed a sheet of plastic and adhesive was also dispensed along with the glove, which then had to be discarded as a waste product of this dispensing system. Another prior patent teaches an overglove and made of thin plastic designed to keep women's dress glove clean and could not be used in a healthcare situation: see WOMAN'S OVERGLOVE OR THE LIKE, U.S. Pat. No. 2,972,748 patented Feb. 28, 196. PROTECTIVE COVER FOR THE HANDS, U.S. Pat. No. 2,773,264 patented Dec. 11, 1956, teaches a disposable three fingered food handler's glove made of thin plastic. DISPOSABLE GLOVE OR MITT FOR SELF-SERVICE GASOLINE U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,635 patented May 24, 1988, teaches a disposable is a plastic glove to keep one's hands clean when pumping gas. Yet another prior art disposable glove similar to the above mentioned prior art is by the same inventor: DISPOSABLE GLOVE OR MITT FOR SELF-SERVICE GASOLINE AND FROZEN FOOD HANDLER, U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,755 patented Apr. 24, 1990. U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,160 to Cano teaches a protective, disposable hand covering or mitt having a tear line along at least a portion of the body thereof to provide controlled tearing and destruction of the glove to facilitate its removal. A mechanism such as a textured area, tab, hole, handle or the like may optionally be provided adjacent the tear line to assist in predictably tearing away the glove. The hand covering may be of plastic or paper or the like and should be of ambidextrous and somewhat oversized design, optionally with a flared cuff. Another optional feature is an inverted cuff to channel away any undesired liquid or other substance that may drip down the glove. Such hand coverings may find uses at self-service gasoline or fuel stations, in health care fields such as medicine and dentistry, in clean room manufacture, domestic cleaning and gardening and the like.
Similarly, methods of manufacturing disposable plastic gloves are well known in the prior art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,577 to Baab teaches an apparatus and method for manufacturing a multi-component article. The article is includes a support layer in the form of a sheet such as paper, toweling or the like, on which is superimposed a plurality of heat sealed products such as disposable plastic gloves, shoe covers, bags, hats, etc. The apparatus and the include means for concurrently feeding a plurality of heat sealable plastic sheets and a layer of paper and means for successively forming the multiple layers of articles that are secured to the paper backing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,245 to Sutherland teaches a plastic glove and a method of making same. The Sutherland invention includes a preformed liner located between two plastic films which are subsequently sealed along the seal line disposed outwardly from the liner to the required contour of the side edges of the glove. U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,500 to Brieske teaches flexible plastic structures and a method for producing the structures. Plastic sheets are employed for forming four film layers, and heat sealing means secure the films around peripheral portions thereof whereby the films define an assembly having the shape of a puppet, a glove or other type article. A perforated line is formed adjacent one edge of the assembly of four films, and when a strip is torn away along this line, free edges of the films are exposed. The films are then adapted to be separated into separate pairs, and each pair then serves independently, for example, as a glove for one hand. U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,322 to Bradfield teaches a method of converting sheet material into gloves consisting of the steps of arranging sheet material with two inner plies of thermoplastic between outer plies of tissue. Then, applying heat to one of the outer plies of tissue in the outline of a glove, such that the inner plies of thermoplastic bond the plies of sheet material together to form a glove with an opening along one side to permit hand entry. An apparatus for use in converting sheet material into gloves consisting of a body and an electrically heated metal plate mounted on the body with at least one opening in the shape of a glove. "C" clamps are hinged to the body such that the body may be mounted to a thermally insulated surface and moved between a position where the plate engages the surface, and a position where the plate is spaced from the surface. A disposable glove consisting of two inner plies of thermoplastic sheet material between outer plies of tissue sheet material, sealed together to form a glove with an opening along one side to permit hand entry.
Despite the foregoing plethora of prior art, there nonetheless exists for a long felt need for a simple, inexpensive, generally flat planar stacked pad of continuously supertransposed disposable plastic gloves, each having a generally straight perforated weakened tear line above and generally transverse to the wrist portion of each of the gloves; and, an improved arrangement for fixing the individual glove members together that includes a heat fused portion of the pad substantially adjacent to the perforated weakened tear line opposite the gloves sufficient to produce a substantially rigid single layer of plastic thereof